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What Can Naomi Teach Us About Faith? by Pastor Kevin Feder

By Anonymous
If ever there was a person in Scripture that highlights the roller coaster of emotions and faith in God it is Naomi. In the book of Ruth she loses her husband and her two sons to death. In Ruth 1:20-21 we read this: 

She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”

Of course, by the end of the book Naomi is restored and her line is rescued. This doesn’t erase her suffering but it also spells a tremendous sense of relief for a woman who has suffered so greatly, going from full to empty, back to full again. 

I have gone back and forth and back again about this episode in Naomi’s life. What are we to make of her faith when she insists on renaming herself Mara? Here are some thoughts. 

First, Naomi says some things that are true and some things that are not. She says that the “Almighty has brought calamity upon me.” This is true. God is sovereign and Scripture makes it clear that if there is disaster in the city it is the Lord’s doing (Amos 3:6; Isaiah 45:7). Yet, her interpretation that God has testified against her isn’t really correct. We know from the end of the story that God isn’t against her and we know from the New Testament that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ (see Romans 8:31-39). 

Second, Naomi’s doubt doesn’t diminish her faith. Many Christians who see doubt as weakness need to change their perspective. Doubt doesn’t mean weakness of faith, it could just mean there is a struggle. Paul calls the journey of faith a fight (2 Timothy 4:7). We wouldn’t look at an athlete in training as weak when they experience their limitations but a means of growing stronger. The same is true with faith. God allows us to hit our limitations to expand them and grant a greater capacity to believe.

Third, real faith laments. Naomi may not be accurate to say that God has testified against her but it certainly felt that way. She is in good company, after all, as Jesus said something similar when he cried out “why have you forsaken me?” Honesty before God is grace at work. Real faith has no pretenses of keeping up a godly appearance but an honest revealing of who you really are and what you really believe.

Last, honesty like Naomi’s is a means of re-aligning with God. Often times trials disorient us but God uses honest lamentation to bring us into a deeper confidence of His love. Sometimes the process of faith is messy but God is there to meet us in the end, welcoming us into a deeper conviction that he is for us in Christ. 

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